To blog in Cuba: defying hazards, enjoying freedom
I share with my fellow Cuban independent journalists the drunkenness of writing freely under a totalitarian dictatorship; of experiencing the catharsis of denouncing the regime’s violations; of feeling useful to my people knowing that, in the long run, what I write will contribute to a better future.
The alternative Cuban blogosphere
At the end of the 1990s, Cuban dissidents sought out different media to disseminate the reality of the island. Reports on violations by a government that proclaims itself a human rights’ defender begin to circulate around the world, damaging the image that the socialist state wants to project to the rest of the world. This…
Special Report: Chronicling Cuba, bloggers offer fresh hope
A vibrant, independent blogging culture is emerging in Cuba, of all places. Numerous journalistic blogs are exploring important social and economic issues. Will the regime crack down, or is a new era dawning? By Carlos Lauría and María Salazar Ferro
Video Report: Cuban Bloggers
In this video report, CPJ’s Carlos Lauría and María Salazar Ferro join with Cuban blogger Laritza Diversant in explaining the roots of Cuban blogging and the major obstacles these journalists overcome. (5:32) Read the special report, “Chroncling Cuba, Bloggers Offer Fresh Hope.”
Hopeless, a sister visits her imprisoned brother in Havana
Graciela González-Degard is 72 years old. She has salt-and-pepper hair, long elegant hands, soft manners reminiscent of another era, and a bad knee that she blames on age. Once a Catholic nun, Graciela moved to the United States from Havana in the 1960s and now lives in New York with her husband. She teaches children…
CPJ urges EU leaders to take action in Cuba
Dear Sirs: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you, as the president of the European Council and President of the European Commission, to take concrete steps to ensure that Cuba complies with the 2008 EU human rights conditions by immediately releasing the 22 journalists currently jailed and by granting freedom of expression and information to all Cubans.
Cuban journalist in second week of hunger strike
Cuban dissidents–both on and off the island–have been blasting the news of Víctor Rolando Arroyo’s 12-day hunger strike. In a matter of hours, CPJ received three concerned e-mails from Havana and Miami. In the meantime, foreign-based Cuban news Web sites plastered the story across the Internet.
A Cuban blogger confronts ‘silent repression’
Why write a blog? My reasons might not be convincing, but to me, they are enough. The most important paper in my country is Granma, the official organ of the Communist Party in Cuba. You open it, you read it, and you don’t see anything. Nothing about the day that we are living in the…